For background on this series of blogs, see this intro post.
Commentary
This day had yet another one of those vivid memories I referenced in my intro blog to this series. There were a lot of those early in the trip. Haha. I’m normally a fairly shy guy, and generally not the type to go strike up a conversation with an attractive female out of the blue. But for whatever reason this day at the beach I decided to strike up a conversation with Celine and ended up hanging out with her for a little bit. She lived in my hall at the dorms, so she wasn’t a complete stranger, but definitely still out of character for me. She was one of two women I met during the trip that, had I met them at home, I probably would have asked them on a formal date at some point (you’ll read about the other later in the series). But since I was in Australia, I didn’t pursue any sort of relationship, and this is the last time I remember spending any amount of significant time with Celine with just the two of us. Part of me still wonders what would have happened had I tried to pursue something. That will always be a mystery. Haha. But this was definitely one of those moments that got etched into my memory.
The Journal Entry
This morning I got up at 8:45 again and got breakfast in the common room. After that I backed up my files and while that was going on I cleaned my ears. After that I talked with Mom for a few minutes. At about 11:30 I went over to the campus center. As I was walking over there I heard sirens and I saw a fire engine driving towards the campus center. Sure enough, when I got there everybody was outside. The fire alarm had gone off. After a few minutes they let everybody go in. I got a burger and chips (aka fries) for lunch and then got some airborne type stuff. I have felt like I am getting sick for the past 3 days, and it gradually keeps getting worse. Hopefully this will help me get better quickly. After that I came back to my room and got ready to go to the beach. We met in the courtyard at 1 and then everybody split into groups to go in cars. Elizabeth, Vicky, and I rode with Melissa there. It was probably about a 15-20 minute drive. When we got there I put on sunscreen, and then waited a few minutes to get in the water. I hung out in the water for a few minutes with some people, then they got out to lay on the beach. I got out and went and sat by Celine and visited for a couple of minutes. She needed to go buy a swimsuit so I walked with her to go get one. We just walked a couple blocks and found a place. After she had picked one out and bought it we walked back to the beach. We went and hung out with some people in the water. After a few minutes Elizabeth, Vicky, Amy, another girl whose name I don’t know, and I went to the pier to jump off a few times. When we got there it was higher than we realized. We all hesitated for a couple minutes, and I finally just jumped. It wasn’t bad. It was pretty fun. Everybody but Vicky finally did it. I jumped off a couple more times and dove a couple times, and then we came back. Right after we got back most people were leaving. I went with a group of people to get fish and chips. Although I’m not a big fish person, I got some. I got flake, which is supposedly shark. I ended up having to leave right after I ordered it, so I had to eat it in the car. It wasn’t too bad. It was too much for me to finish. After we got back I got a shower, and then Celine convinced me to go down to dinner. We got a free meal at the cafeteria. I just got mine to go. I sat with Vicky, Elizabeth, and some Loyola people. After dinner I came back to the dorm, put my meal in the fridge, and then came to my room and started writing this. It has taken me about 2 hours to write this so far. Chloe and Celine came in and visited for a couple minutes. Celine is so pretty. Her eyes are amazing. But once again, she isn’t a Christian and drinks. It’s so frustrating. It was still really cool to get to hang out with her some today though. Anyway, I’m gonna get ready for my ocean road trip tomorrow and then probably go watch movies for a little bit in the loft. By the way, we went to Mordiallic Beach.
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